Elections
Report Warns Loophole in Wisconsin Election Laws Could Allow Over 140,000 to Vote Without Proving Identity
A new report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) highlights a significant vulnerability in the state’s election laws that could undermine election integrity. The loophole revolves around the “Indefinitely Confined” voter status, which allows individuals to vote absentee without ever having to provide identification. The report reveals that more than 140,000 Wisconsin voters are registered under this exemption and could vote in the 2024 election without proving their identity.
The “Indefinitely Confined” status was originally designed to accommodate voters who are elderly, sick, or physically unable to visit polling stations. However, the number of voters registered under this status has surged dramatically in recent years. In 2016, approximately 66,000 voters were classified as indefinitely confined. By 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, that number skyrocketed to 265,979, largely due to Democratic-leaning counties encouraging voters to take advantage of the loophole as a way to bypass the state’s voter ID requirements.
Wisconsin’s voter ID laws generally mandate that voters provide identification to vote, except for those who claim indefinitely confined status. Critics argue this undermines the voter ID law’s purpose of preventing fraud and ensuring secure elections. The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously rebuked the practice of advising voters to exploit the loophole during the 2020 election. Nonetheless, the number of indefinitely confined voters has remained high, with 144,347 currently registered under the exemption.
Breitbart News explains that the loophole was thrust into the spotlight after Joe Biden narrowly won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes in 2020, a swing of around 48,000 votes compared to Donald Trump’s 2016 victory in the state.
WILL’s research director, Will Flanders, expressed concern over the loophole’s impact on voter confidence. “Confidence in our elections continues to be dangerously low in Wisconsin and across the country,” he stated. “Voter ID is a popular and well-executed way to keep our elections secure and free of fraud. While the Governor refused to fix this loophole in the years since 2020, efforts must be made by local election clerks to resolve it as much as possible.”
The current laws do require that election officials periodically review the status of voters registered as indefinitely confined. Specifically, if a voter fails to return an absentee ballot after receiving one, they are to be removed from the absentee ballot list unless they renew their application within 30 days. Additionally, voters can request to be removed from the list or be removed if there is reliable information indicating they are no longer eligible.
However, the report alleges that many local clerks are not adhering to these laws, leaving the number of indefinitely confined voters at levels that pose concerns for election integrity.
WILL’s policy director, Kyle Koenen, acknowledged the original intent of the indefinitely confined status but emphasized the need for reform. “Although designed with good intentions, as our report shows, the system has a few key flaws that should be resolved,” Koenen stated.
In November, president-elect Donald Trump announced on social media that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico if they do not take an active role in containing illegal immigration as well as the level of illicit drugs entering into the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, after which the Canadian government vowed to secure the border. “We got, I think, a mutual understanding of what they’re concerned about in terms of border security,” Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, who accompanied Trudeau at Mar-a-Largo, said of the meeting in an interview with Canadian media. “All of their concerns are shared by Canadians and by the government of Canada.”
“We talked about the security posture currently at the border that we believe to be effective, and we also discussed additional measures and visible measures that we’re going to put in place over the coming weeks,” LeBlanc continued. “And we also established, Rosemary, a personal series of rapport that I think will continue to allow us to make that case.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reports the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is preparing to beef up its immigration enforcement capabilities by hiring more staff, adding more vehicles and creating more processing facilities, in the chance that there is an immigration surge sparked by Trump’s presidential election victory. The moves are a change in direction from Trudeau’s public declaration in January 2017 that Canada was a “welcoming” country and that “diversity is our strength” just days after Trump was sworn into office the first time.
The Daily Caller notes the differences in response from the Canadian government verses Mexico’s:
Trudeau’s recent overtures largely differ from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has indicated she is not willing to bend the knee to Trump’s tariff threats. The Mexican leader in November said “there will be a response in kind” to any tariff levied on Mexican goods going into the U.S., and she appeared to deny the president-elect’s claims that she agreed to do more to beef up border security in a recent phone call.
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